SPECTATOR COMPETITION No. 186

Report by L. Airey It has been proposed that the Labour Party anthem " The Red Flag," with its references to " martyred dead " and " gallows grim" should be brought up to date. The opportunity might be taken to provide lyrics for all our main parties. The usual prize was offered for not more than twenty lines of a song (quoting tune) for any of the main political parties, by one of the following : Auden, Eliot, Housman, Kipling, Yeats.

This was much more difficult than it looked ; having found the required style and content competitors had to break . through a musical sound-barrier to fit their metre to a suitable tune. Most, including the two winners, adopted the somewhat dubious device of parodying a poem which had already been set to music, and the most popular of these was of course Kipling's " Recessional." Aspirants to something more original mostly came unstuck, and I can recommend anyone in search of a novel sensation to try singing a poem reminiscent of Housman's " Epitaph on an Army of Mer- cenaries " to the tune of " Clementine:" Of the parties Labour offered perhaps most scope for allusion (though I particularly liked James Bowker's instruction that his anthem .for the Liberals was to be sung standing—never sitting) and, both the prize-winners deserve the attention of the forthcoming Conference. Of the poets Eliot was the least successful, and his sole supporter J. P. Mullarky represented, rather unexpectedly, Dr. Adenauer's C.D.U. Auden was equally difficult to fit to a rousing tune, and three good entries, of which Miss Chisholm's was excellent pastiche but useless as a political stimulant, failed on the tune. I was relieved to find that no one had desecrated Yeats' " Among Schoolchildren " by adapting the lines : " Labour is blossoming or dancing where The body is not bruised to pleasure soul."

The prize of £5 is divided equally between H. A. C. and R. Kennard Davis who between them have portrayed very faithfully the inside and the outside of the Labour Party. Smilax's " Tory Song " by Auden, and the best single verse, which is from James Bowker's " Recessional " for the Liberal Party, deserve honourable mention.

PRIZES (H. A. C.)

(To the tune of " Summertime on Bredon

Though rival claims be bruited In parties far and near,

Clem's voice alone shall guide us Discreetly from the rear, A soothing sound to hear.

To trustless chaps like Bevan We'll never bend the knee While God shall save the Unions, To keep the party free, And Chuter Ede and me.

Then hold your tongue, Eirene, What use to fret and fret ? Rise up a thousand prophets, Their hour's not sounded yet, And Clem is still our pet.

Tomorrow we'll be bolder And bang a bigger drum ; But while we hold the block votes, Oh, Bevanites, be dumb 1 Tomorrow will not come.

(R. KENNARD DAVIS)

For the Labour Party, by Kipling

(To the tune of " The Absent-Minded Beggar ")

Would you build a better Britain, would you banish want and fear ? Would you lead the world to justice and to peace ? Would you spread the call for freedom to the nations far and near, Till the rule of pride and privilege shall cease ? Shall the idler take our earnings ? Shall the waster own the earth ? Shall Nature's gifts be hoarded for the few ? Come, join us in the struggle, that reward may go to worth, And the toil of hand and brain receive its due I

(Chorus)

Mill hand, shop hand, scientist, engineer, Miner, farmer, journalist, brothers all shall be ;

Each of us working for all the rest, and none for the profiteer, All of us proud to serve the land of the Free, Free, Free I We have fought to give the people the-command of England's wealth,

That all may share and none shall lee forbid.

There is Gas and Coal and Transport, there is care for each one's health,

And a decent education for the kid l There are wrongs that yct need righting, there are victories to be won Over ignorance and poverty and strife, But together we will finish what our fathers have begun, And win for all to come the larger life I

(Chorus as before). COMMENDED (SMILAX)

A Tory song by W. H. Auden

(To she tune of Trineulo's " At Smokey Joe's

Since good King Charles's golden day The people and the upper class Have been firm allies in the fray To skin the blighters of their brass : The people's flag is pink as pink ; It's not as red as people think.

Then raise the people's standard by Keeping the middle classes skinned, And let them raise our standard high Since only they can raise the wind. If all that Dizzy said be true The people's flag is Tory blue.

Though Dizzy's days be dead and gone, His still unflagging tongue we wag : His exhortations wave us on, And if the people's latest flag Is something less than royal blue, Will not the Royal Standard do ?

(JAMES BOWKER)

From " Recessional " If, drunk with sight of power, we lose Hard-earned deposits by the score, Such boastings as the Tories use Will never change electoral law. They say this question will be met ; But they forget—Yes, they forget I